John c



(No Model.)

J. 0. LOVE. TENSION DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC GONDUOTORS. NO. 532,166 Patented Jan. 8; 1895.

Z I I 'IIIIIIIIIIIIIII/ Nrran STATES J OIIN C. LOVE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT A ND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE LOVE ELECTRIC TRACTION COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

TENSION DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC CONDUCTORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 532,166, dated January 8, 1 895.

Application filed May 9, 1894. Serial No. 510,654. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.- In said drawings: Figure 1 is a longitudinal Be it known that I, JOHN C. LOVE, of Chisection of the upper portion of an electric o cago, in the county of Cook and State of Illiconduit in which the line wires or conductors nois, have invented certain new and useful are provided with tension devices embodying 5 Improvements in Tension Devices for Elecone practical form of the invention. Fig. 2 tric Conductors; andI do hereby declare that is a horizontal section taken on line 22 of the following is a full, clear, and exact de- Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional description thereof, reference being had to the tail of' the telescopic connection for joining accompanying drawings, and to the letters of two adjacent sections on the line wire. Fig.

10 reference marked thereon, which form a part 4 is a transverse sectional detail thereof taken of this specification. on line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a transverse This invention relates to improvements in sectional detail taken on line 55 of Fig. 1. devices for maintaining the line wires or con- Fig. 6 is a similar view taken on line 66 of ductors of electric railways under suflicient Fig. 1.

15 tension to preventtheir saggingmaterially A designates a slotted underground conbetween the insulators upon which they are duit for electric railways and B B two of the supported, or from being unduly neglected by yokes thereof. the pressure of the traveling contact devices C is-a line wire supported longitudinally of carried by the car; and it relates more parthe conduit upon any suitable insulators 2o ticularly to improvements in tension devices adapted to permit longitudinal movement of for the purposes referred to of a character the line wire. Theinsulators disclosed in my similar to that set forth in my prior patent, prior patent, No. 511,344, grantedDecember, No. 511,345, granted December 26, 1893. 26, 1893, for example, may be conveniently The invention consists in the matter hereused in this connection.

25 inafter set forth and particularly pointed out The line Wire C is divided into separable.

in the appended claims. sections C, of any desired length from a hun- In the practice of my invention the line dred to a thousand feet or more or less, acwire or conductor to which the tension devices cording to the circumstances of the case. are applied is provided in separable sections Said sections 0 are each engaged at one or 0 of any desired length, and the sections are both ends by clips D which depend from insupported in such manner as to be capable of sulating blocks D mounted to slide upon lonconsiderablelongitudinal movement relativegitudinally extending. stationary guides B. ly to each other and to the road bed. At one As hereinshown the guides B comprise paror both of its ends each section of wire is seallel rods 1) 1) extending between the adjacent 3 5 cured toa movable or sliding insulating block yokes B B, and the insulating blocks D are mounted to slide longitudinally on horizonprovided on opposite sides with longitudinal tally arranged guides, and to which are congrooves which are engaged by the rods 6 when 7 nected tension devices adapted to draw taut the blocks are placed between said rods. The the line wire. The continuityof the line wire clips D are herein shown as. conveniently 40 as a whole is maintained by providingthe adformed by two elongated plates D and D joining ends of the sections with asliding or which are detachably secured together by telescopic joint permitting free longitudinal bolted so as to tightly embrace the wire C be- 0 movement of the sections with relation to each tween their lower edges. Said wire is in this other. instance provided with longitudinal grooves 45 My invention is more especially designed c c and the lower edges of the plates D D for use in connection with the line wire of are shaped to form jaws d which engage said underground conduits and is accordingly so grooves and thus firmly grasp the wire.' Near 5 illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 7 their forward ends the plates D D are pr0- vided with upwardly extending portions d (1 of which the part (1 of the plate D rises above the part 61 and is embedded in the insulating and blocks.

E designates an insulating block which is mounted to slide between the rods 1) b in the same manner as the block D, and is elongated or has a long bearing on the said rods, in order that it mayslide smoothly thereon. Said block D is connected with the clip D by a link or coupling rod F. The latter, as herein shown, is attached to the clip D by being formed at its rear end F with a loop f which detachably engages an upward projecting hook shaped lug d on the front end of the clip. At its front end F the link F is flattened as shown and is secured by bolts f to the side of a downwardly projecting plate E the upper portion of which is embedded in the insulating blocks E. The extreme front edge f of the flattened end 13 of the link is furthermore herein shown as turned or bent laterally (Fig. 2) so as to hook over the front edge of the plate E and thus afford a shoulder adapted to directly resist the strain coming on the link. A turn buckle F pivotally engaging the-rear end Fof the link and having a screw threaded engagement with its front end F permits the length of the link F to be adjusted as desired.

G designates a coiled compression spring inserted between the back of the block E and the face of the adjacent yoke B, suitable lugs e and I) being in this instance provided on the block and yoke in position to enter or engage the ends of the spring and thereby maintain the same in position. Said spring G will obviously exert constantly a yielding pressure on the back of the block E tending to thrust the same forward on the rods 12, and serving to draw taut the connected section 0 of line wire.

The tension device made as'described is superior to that shown in myprior patent, No. 511,345, not only by reason of being more simple in structure, but from the fact that in the device of said prior patent the tension is transmitted to the conductor through an inclined tie-rod, while in the present case the use of the plate E which projects downwardly from the insulating block E, which block is elongated to have a long bearing on the guiderods, brings the point of connection of the rod Fin line with its point of connection with the clip D, so that said rod is parallel with the conductor and strain is exerted longitudinally instead of obliquely on the said conductor.

Tension devices of the construction thus described will usually be provided in pairs, one

connected with each of the adjacent ends of two adjoining sections 0 of the line wire, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and with their springs acting in opposite directions against the faces of two adjacent conduit yokes B. The extreme ends of the adjoining sections 0 must obviously be left separated by a sufficient space to permit the ends of said sections to approach each other or separate as the tension devices operate to take up any slack which may occur in said sections. The practical continuity of the line wire between the sections is, however, preserved by means of a telescopic connection I-I comprising a tubular sleeve H adapted to receive the ends of the sections C and depending from an insulating block H which is in this instance mounted upon guide rods As herein shown said telescopic connection H is so constructed as to permit the interruption of the circuit between the adjoining sections 0' at will. To this end the sleeve H is formed of two separate sections h provided with upwardly projecting lugs h h which are rigidly bolted between the opposite ends of parallel plates 71, k of insulating material. Said plates h k are herein shown supported from the block H by being bolted to the opposite sides of an intermediate plate h at the lower edge thereof, the up-' per portion of said plate being embedded in the insulating block H Midway between its ends and at a point slightly above its lower edge the plate It is apertured to receive a stud h upon which is mounted a revoluble disk H of such diameter that the lowermost part of its perimeter is substantially in line with the lower edge of the sleeve H, said disk being inserted within a suitable recess it provided centrally in the plate h Said disk 11 is composed of a larger segmental portion 72. of insulating material through which the stud h is passed, and a smaller segmental portion 72 of copper or other suitable conducting material.- The inner ends h of the sleeves h terminate on a curve concentric with the disk H and having a radius equal to the radius of said disk so that said ends constantlyengage the perimeter of said diskH Consequently when the disk is turned to bring the conducting segment it between the ends 7& of the sleeve the latter will be electrically connected and the current will pass from one of the sections G of the conductor to the other through the sleeves h and the conducting segment 71, without interruption. Obviously, however, when the disk is rotated to bring the insulating section lowermost and between the ends it of the sleeves the passage of the current will be interrupted. Preferably the width or thickness of the disk H and the radial thickness of the conducting segment h are made substantially equal to the outer diameter of the sleeves h so that the area in cross section of the segment h is ample to transmit the current which may pass through it. To enable the disk to be readily rotated when desired the stud h is made to revolubly engage the plate h and is formed with an enlarged square outer end h which is adapted to be engaged by a suitable wrench, and causes the disk H to rotate with the stud when the wrench is so applied to the latter. Under the lCO most favorable conditions, however, the telescopic connection H will ofier more or less re sistance to the passage of the current, because of the sliding joint between the ends of the sections and the sleeves h, and the joint between the inner ends of said sleeves and the conducting segment h For the purpose, therefore, of affording a more perfect electrical connection between the adjoining sections 0, I provide a short flexible conductor I, preferably provided with an insulating covering, suitably connected at its ends to said sections 0 and extending loosely around the telescopic connection H. As herein shown said flexible conductor is provided at its ends with metallic plugs I adapted to be tightly fitted within sockets d on the clips D. When the plugs I are inserted in the sockets d the current is obviously free to pass from one section 0' to the next through the flexible conductor I without diminution by the resistance ofiered by the coupling H. By pulling out one of the plugs I the connection afforded by the conductor I may, however, be broken, and the current may then be entirely interrupted by rotating the disk H to bring its insulating segment 7L between the sleeves h. Between its ends the conductor I may be supported in any convenient manner as by insulators i projecting from the walls of the yokes and conduit. Said conduit will usually be enlarged, as' shown to form a manhole, (not shown) wherever the tensiondevices are located, to permit free access to said tension devices.

While the tension devices are in this instance provided in pairs, one applied to the endof each of the adjoining sections it will be understood that each device operates entirely independently of the other and would operate as well, so far as its own sectionis concerned, ifthe adjoining end of the next section were rigidly secured instead of being also supplied with a yielding tension device. Moreover although ordinarily intended to be applied to both ends of each section it is obviously practicable to provide a tension device embodying my invention at one end only of each section by attaching the other end of the section rigidly to the conduit. All such and similar constructions obviously come within the spirit of my invention.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with the yokes of a conduit and a conductor, of a guide rod or rods attached to the yokes, an insulating block sliding on said guide rod or rods, a clip for supporting the conductor secured to said insulatin g block, a second insulating block also slid-ing on said guide rods,a plate secured in said second insulating block, an adjustable coupling rod connected at its ends with the said clip and plate, and a compression spring applied between the said second insulating block and an opposing surface of one of said yokes, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a conductor consisting of a plurality of sections which are free to move longitudinally with relation to their supports,-of a telescoping coupling for connecting the ends of the adjacent sections 4. The combination with a conductor which I is free to move endwise relatively to its supports, of a tension device comprisinga guiderod or rods arranged parallel with the conductor, a sliding insulating block supported by said guide rod or" rods, 21. supporting clip for the conductor attached to said insulating block, a second insulating block also adapted to slide on said rod or rods and havingan elongated bearing thereon, a plateattached to said insulating block and extending toward the conductor, an adjustable coupling rod connected at its ends with said clip and plate, and a spring applied to act on the second insulating block for maintaining tension on the conductor, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with a sectional conductor, of means for electrically disconnecting two adjacent sections of the conductor comprising a revoluble disk which is mounted at one side of the conductor and projects between two adjacent parts of the same, said disk consisting of conducting and non-conducting parts, and being in contact at its periphery with the adjacent parts of the conductor, which latter are made concave to fit closely against the periphery of the said disk, 4

adapted to engage the said plate, substantially as described.

7. The combination with a slotted underground conduit and a conductor therein, of an insulating block, longitudinal guides supporting said block, a clip secured in said insulating block and engaging the conductor, a second insulating block supported by said guide-rods and having an elongated bearing thereon, a plate secured in said second insulating block and extending toward the conductor, an adjustable coupling rod provided with a turn-buckle and connected at its ends with said clip and plate, and a compression spring applied between said second insulating block and an opposing surface of the conto duit, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as myinvention I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN 0. LOVE. Witnesses:

C. CLARENCE POOLE, W. S. HALL. 

